The Truth Behind the Legend
by newbienovelistRD
Summary: Ichabod Crane and Katrina Can Tassel meet again. But when they try to start over, things get rather complicated.


**A request from alyssalynn803. Enjoy!**

* * *

Sleepy Hollow, a quiet little town. But despite it's innocent demeanor, it holds a terrifying secret.

Katrina Van Tassel, the local beauty, looked outside her bedroom window and sighed.

It has been a whole year since the disappearance of Ichabod Crane, a kind, yet timid school teacher whom she had feelings for.

Many people have said that Ichabod was spirited away by the Headless Horseman on Halloween night.

The Headless Horseman was Sleepy Hollow's haunted legend.

Many years ago, a Hessian solider was decapitated by a stray cannonball in the midst of battle.

And ever since the solider's gruesome demise, his headless ghost rides upon his horse through the woods of Sleepy Hollow.

Ichabod Crane had made the foolish mistake of riding through the forest on that ominous Halloween night, where he encountered the demon ghost and was never seen again.

"Honey! Where are my boots?!" Katrina's husband yelled from downstairs.

Katrina sighed in irritation.

Since Ichabod's disappearance, Katrina was forced to marry Ichabod's rival Abraham Van Brunt, also known as Brom Bones. A strong, yet arrogant man who saw Ichabod as unwelcome competition for Katrina's affections.

Katrina thought she would be happy with Brom Bones, but her life was anything but blissful.

Brom treated Katrina more like a servant rather than a wife.

Katrina barely left her home. Bones would always be giving her votes to do. Washing dishes, scrubbing floors, cooking his meals.

It's like Katrina had no freedom anymore.

"Where have you gone, Ichabod?" Katrina said to herself.

"KATRINA!" Brom yelled.

"Coming!" Katrina got up and went downstairs.

Brom smiled with content as he sat in his chair with Katrina rubbing his putrid feet.

"Isn't this lovely, Katrina?" Brom smiled.

"Oh, yes." Katrina lied.

"Bu the way, dear. When you're done with my feet. I need you to run into town and do a couple errands."

He took out a long list that touched the floor.

It took everything in Katrina not to scream in anger.

* * *

Katrina went out shopping. It was such tedious work being married to that awful man.

As she walked by, she felt the eyes of the villagers looking at her.

Before she was married, Katrina wore lovely gowns that showed her true beauty and grace, but now that she was made into a slave, she wore old rags instead.

"I don't know how much of this I can take." Katrina muttered.

BUMP!

Katrina ran into someone. She fell and dropped all her items.

"Goodness me! I'm terribly sorry!" a kind voice said.

"That voice..." Katrina looked up and gasped. She saw a tall, lean, and lanky man standing before her.

The man gasped when he saw her face. "Katrina?!"

"Ichabod!" Katrina nearly screamed as she threw her arms around him. "You're alive!"

Ichabod felt frozen. The woman of his dreams was hugging him. He wondered if he was dreaming.

Katrina never felt this happy before. A tragic mystery that haunted her mind had just been solved right in front of her.

Ichabod Crane was alive and well.

"Ichabod! What happened to you?" asked Katrina. "I thought the Headless Horseman took you away!"

When Katrina mentioned the Headless Horseman, Ichabod became white as a sheet.

Katrina saw Ichabod stumble, but she was able to keep him upright. "Are you alright?"

Ichabod tried to speak, but he just mumbled.

Katrina took Ichabod inside a tavern and waited for him to calm down.

After a few drinks of water to calm his nerves, the fidgety man managed to relax.

"So, what happened to you, Ichabod?" asked Katrina.

Ichabod took a deep, shaky breath before he spoke. "Katrina, I saw the Headless Horseman."

Katrina covered her mouth in shock. "He's real?!"

Ichabod nodded. "Yes! A headless horseman! He was completely headless! It was horrible! I saw him with my own two eyes!"

The infamous scene replayed in Ichabod's mind as he told his tale. "I was riding my horse Gunpowder through the forest. Brom's story truly chilled me to the bone, but I shouldn't let a ghost story get the best of me. But it was the biggest, nearly fatal mistake of my life!"

Katrina saw how terror-stricken Ichabod was. "The horseman came out of nowhere, like a monstrous beast ready to strike! And he did! He chased me all through the hollow!" He swallowed hard. "At first, I thought it was just a fellow rider. But when I took a second look..."

Ichabod's hands started to quiver.

"The rider was right beside me. And I saw no head upon his shoulders! It was placed beside him!"

Katrina felt just as scared herself.

"I drove my horse as fast as possible! I remember from Brom's story that the horseman cannot cross the bridge to the church! So I was able to cross it. But not before that demon horseman struck me down by throwing his own head at me! I barely made it with my life!"

Ichabod's voice returned to normal. "So I left town and never returned. For I feared that the Headless Horseman would come after me again and strike me down for good! Plus..." He looked away.

"Plus what?" asked Katrina.

"I..." Ichabod rubbed in hands together in a nervous manner. "I was...too ashamed to show myself in the hollow again."

"Too ashamed?!" Katrina gasped. "But why?!"

Ichabod sighed. "Once I left Sleepy Hollow, I tried to start a new life in another town. I was hoping to maybe...start things over with you, Katrina." His lip trembled. "But I was afraid that you would not want anything to do with a coward like me...so I never returned. But once I heard you and Brom Bones were married, I knew right then and there it was too late."

The sad schoolteacher got up. "Forgive me for showing my face again, Katrina. You don't deserve a spineless coward like me." He was about to leave until he felt Katrina grab his hands.

"No, Ichabod." Katrina held his hands tighter. "You are a man worth loving. That night at the party, I never had more fun with any other man in my life. When we danced together, laughed together, it was like a happy ending of a story." She frowned. "But that horrid Brom Bones took away all my happiness!"

"He did?!"

"Yes, he treats me like a lowly scullery maid. That lout only loved me for my money!" Tears started to fall from Katrina's flawless eyes. "I...I hate that man!" She buried her face in Ichabod's chest and began to cry.

Ichabod said nothing. He put his arms around Katrina and let her cry. He could feel the pain and sorrow in her sobs.

He also felt a twinge of anger. That Brom Bones really was a horrid man after all.

"Do not be sad, Katrina." Ichabod assured her. "Now that we're together, we can start a new life together! You and I shall elope tonight!"

Katrina looked up at him. "What?! Elope?!" Katrina looked around, but there was no one in earshot to hear them. Ichabod! We cannot elope! What about Brom?!"

"Katrina, if there's one thing I've learned from all this, is that you cannot live in fear forever!" Ichabod declared. "I will die if I go back to hiding in fear! Especially without you!"

But when Katrina thought about it, the more she realized it was worth the risk. "Can we...really start over, Ichabod?"

Ichabod smiled for the first time since he returned to Sleepy Hollow. "It's about can we do it, it's will we do it?"

Seeing his confident smile, Katrina's doubt and worries melted away.

And she smiled too. "We will."

* * *

That night, when Brom Bones was tucked in and fast asleep, Katrina waited until midnight to make her move.

Using her clothes and sheets, Katrina made a rope to help her escape out the window. As she lowered herself down, she felt such a rush of adrenaline and excitement come over her. Her carried a large bag in her other hand.

Never has she had such a thrill, who knew there was a little bit of an adventurer in her?

Katrina landed and there waiting for her was her beloved Ichabod. He smiled with glee as Katrina showed him the bag.

"All the gold and jewels are right in here!" Katrina said, patting the bag.

"Our new life together starts right now!" Ichabod said in excitement. He took Katrina to his horse carriage. They both got in and took off.

"Perhaps we can live in a cozy cottage somewhere in the countryside!" Katrina suggested.

"Marvelous! And it will have a yard with plenty of space for a lovely flower garden!" Ichabod suggested.

As the couple traveled down the road, the evening grew darker and darker.

If Ichabod wasn't so blissfully happy, he would notice that this evening was very similar to the horrid event that drove him away from the hollow.

Suddenly, a faint sound caught the ear of Ichabod and Katrina.

"What is that?" Katrina whispered.

Ichabod felt very nervous. Now the wretched memory haunted his mind.

But as they trotted closer, they heard the sound was...someone crying.

Ichabod and Katrina came to the bridge, where they saw a strange figure sitting by the river.

And he was crying.

"My goodness, who is that?" Ichabod said.

The man wailed in sorrow, his wail caused Ichabod's spine to shiver, but he also felt pity grip his heart as well.

Ichabod looked at Katrina, she nodded to approve his decision.

So, the schoolteacher came off his carriage and approached the sobbing man. "Excuse me, Sir. Are you alright?"

The dark made it a bit difficult to see. But as Ichabod came close, he noticed this man was quite disfigured, Almost as if he was missing something.

The man turned. Ichabod tried to scream, but he choked on his own scream.

The man was headless.

Ichabod backed away with shaking legs. It was the Headless Horseman!

Katrina screamed in terror, Ichabod fainted.

"STAY AWAY FROM HIM, YOU MONSTER!" Katrina screeched as she jumped of the carriage and ran to Ichabod.

Katrina slapped Ichabod's face until he finally woke up.

"Wha-" Ichabod gasped. "AAAAAAAH!" He screamed and pointed at the headless ghost.

The terrified couple tensed as they fearfully anticipated the ghost's next move.

But the ghost turned and hovered away, wailing his ghostly wail.

"Ooooooh, woe is meeeeee!" The ghost bellowed. He certainty sounded like a ghost.

Ichabod and Katrina cocked their heads forward seeing the specter walk away. They expected him to decapitate them, but he wasn't.

"Uh, Mr. Horseman." Ichabod said rather softly.

The gloomy ghost turned in the man's direction.

"What seems to be troubling you?" asked Ichabod. "You don't seem eager to chase after me again."

"Again?" the horsemen spoke. "What do you again? I've never seen you before."

"You...what?!" Ichabod gasped.

"You mean you didn't attack Ichabod on Halloween last year?!" Katrina said.

Now the horseman was very perplexed. He firmly put his hands on his hips. "I certainly did not! I don't attack people, I just scare them! After all, there's nothing to do but haunt these miserable woods ever since my tragic death. Not all ghosts are bad, some just want to be left alone." He began to sulk. "Doomed to aimlessly wander the hollow...no rest, no peace...oooooohhhh..."

Despite being frightening, Ichabod and Katrina couldn't help but feel sorry for the horseman.

"Is there anything we can do to help you?" asked Ichabod.

The ghost turned away.

"Anything at all?" Katrina said.

The ghostly specter of the Headless Horseman started to float away, the couple watched in fascination as he phased through a tree.

 **BOOM!**

A loud gunshot was heard. Ichabod almost got scared out of his skin.

The sound of heavy footsteps followed after the gunshot. A massive figure emerged from the woods.

With a nasty sneer on his face and a loaded shotgun in his hands, Brom Bones was armed and angry.

"Ichabod Crane," he growled. "I thought I saw the last of you, I guess not even my Headless Horseman act couldn't scare you out of town!"

"WHAT?!" Ichabod screamed. "You mean you were disguised as the Headless Horseman?! I left my beautiful Katrina behind because of you?!"

"Katrina doesn't belong to a spineless man like you!" Bones snapped. He aimed his gun and was ready to fire.

"Excuse me, sir. Have you seen my head?" a voice asked from behind.

Brom turned and screamed, dropping his gun.

The Headless Horseman was floating above Brom, the man's screams were music to the ghost.

Brom shot the horseman at point blank range, but the bullets just went right through him.

The Headless Horseman let out a whistle and a horse emerged from the ground.

The horse was black as midnight. It's evil red eyes glowed right through Brom's soul.

With a fiendish laugh, the Headless horseman saddled up and began chasing Brom Bones.

Ichabod and Katrina watched rough, tough Brom Bones running scared like a big chicken. He looked more scared than Ichabod.

The horseman chased Bones all over the Hollow until he crossed the bridge and kept running, not looking back.

"Begone and never return! You big ogre!" The horseman yelled, shaking his fist. He snapped his fingers and his horse disappeared.

"Mr. Horseman! Thank you!" Ichabod said, running towards him. "You saved us!"

"You're a hero!" Katrina said.

"Alas, I am no hero." The horseman said. "I only did what I felt was right. The last thing I wanted was more innocent lives wasted on this field..."

The horseman was going to leave for good until,

"Wait, Mr. Horseman!" Ichabod said. "I had you all wrong. You're not an evil spirit, just misunderstood. So, perhaps I can offer you something to show my gratitude."

"What's that?"

Ichabod smiled. "A friend."

"Make that two friends." Katrina added.

"F-Friends...?" Nothing could have prepared the horseman for this. "You would want to befriend a horrific specter?"

Ichabod shook his head. "You're not horrific at all. You proved you have much good and bravery in your heart, even after death. That is truly admirable."

"In fact," Katrina tapped her chin. "I think know a way how we can all be happy together."

* * *

No one has ever seen Brom Bones since that very unusual night.

But it didn't matter, now that Ichabod and Katrina have started their new life together. They built a cozy little cottage in the woods and started a family.

And ever since they moved in, Sleepy Hollow became a much brighter, happier place.

One sunny day, their daughter, Elizabeth Crane, was bouncing her ball outside. She looked off in the distance.

"Mama, when is Mr. Horseman coming?" Elizabeth asked her mother.

Katrina was sitting on the front porch knitting. She chuckled. "Be patient, dear."

Elizabeth's ears perked up when she heard trotting coming her way. She gasped with glee as the Headless Horseman rode in.

"Greetings, Elizabeth." said the horseman. "And hello to you, Katrina."

Katrina smiled and welcomed their ghostly neighbor warmly.

Ichabod came out the door. "Hello, Horseman! You're just in time for dinner!"

"Thank you, Ichabod." The friendly ghost parked his horse and entered the Crane household.

Elizabeth held hands with the horseman as they came inside.

And for the first time since his death, the Headless Horseman felt truly alive.


End file.
